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- not touch with a ten-foot pole
not touch with a ten-foot pole
not touch someone or something with a ten-foot pole
Cliché not to have anything to do with someone or something. (Always negative.) No, I won't hire Fred. I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole. I wouldn't touch that job with a ten-foot pole.
not touch something with a ten-foot pole
to not want to become involved with something
If I were you, I wouldn't touch that job with a ten-foot pole. Usage notes: often used as a warning
not touch with a ten-foot pole
Stay far away from, avoid completely, as in Ronald wouldn't touch raw oysters with a ten-foot pole. This expression dates from the mid-1700s, when it began to replace the earlier not to be handled with a pair of tongs. In the 1800s barge-pole was sometimes substituted for ten-foot pole, but that variant has died out.